That's good, because I have three paragraphs.
In closing, some advice. First, we need to remember the impact on government spending. Government spending in the U.S. is roughly two to one on consumption versus investment, and the ratio's getting smaller. Here in Canada, we're close to three to one, and the ratio's getting wider. Government consumption takes resources, people, money, and material away from the private sector. At the same time, failure to invest sees infrastructure start to decline and innovation fade.
In brief, we need to do five things. We need to act now. Any policy change is going to take between five and ten years to see any real impact, and we have about ten years to find a solution to this difficulty. We need to let people work in the private sector. A labour shortage is a worker's best friend. We need to invest in productivity, technology, innovation, commercialization, and access to market. We need to stop trying to find jobs for everyone and stop rewarding them if the jobs don't go and find them.
Finally, we need to stop placing barriers to the free flow of the practice of production. Interprovincial and international barriers to investment, trade, and labour mobility all have to be removed on an urgent basis. It shouldn't be necessary for Alberta and British Columbia to enter into a free trade agreement between provinces. We should already have that free flow within Canada.
Thank you.